Meeting and Finding
by c.herondale
Summary: Jace meets Clary at a train stop. They sit together, talk and Jace finds it surprisingly easy to talk to her. Clary suddenly has to leave before he gets her name. He goes to Brooklyn looking for the mystery girl, searching and asking people if they know her. Will he ever see her again? Based on the song Somewhere in Brooklyn. Rated T for some bad language.


**Hi! I've had this idea for a while now and I just finished it. It's a little OOC and warning there is some bad language. I hope you like it!**

 **I do not own The Mortal Instruments or the song Somewhere in Brooklyn.**

Meeting -

It was a normal chilly day in New York. Jace had just finished his shift at Starbucks on a Tuesday afternoon and was on his way to catch the train home.

As he walked up to his normal bench he waited at, Jace noticed a girl sitting there instead. Which was odd since it was a rusty old, two-seater bench towards the end of the track that had definitely seen better days. But he liked it since it was kind of far away from other people. Where he could enjoy his evening after work peacefully and alone. As Jace approached, he noticed the girl was wearing black skinny jeans with holes in the thighs, a black top with gold letters that said something he couldn't see, a black leather jacket and red Nike high tops. She had a pair of headphones in her ears and seemed to be lost in her own little world. Jace reached the bench and gestured to the open seat next to her. "May I sit?"

Clary had been waiting at the train stop for a while now. After meeting Simon at Starbucks, she decided to head to the station early so she can relax for a while. Why they couldn't have just gone to Java Jones by her apartment was beyond her. Since she was in sort of a "nobody talk to me" mood she picked a rusty bench far away from everyone else. Now, blaring her hip hop and pop playlist in her ears, a shadow came over her. She looked up just as he approached and he mouthed some words that Clary couldn't make out. Even if she didn't have her headphones in she didn't think she would have heard him anyway. Because the moment her eyes fell on him, she was speechless. A mess of bright golden hair to match his gold eyes. Some seriously tan skin for New York. Chiseled features, strong jaw. The list could go on. Even as Clary noticed a chip in one of his front teeth and a stain on his shirt, she still thought he looked like a god.

And he was talking to her. But as he gestured to the spot next to her, Clary realized he was asking to sit. Nodding dumbly and practically ripping her headphones out, he lowered himself next to her. She was very aware how close they were to each other. She looked at her surroundings to see that there were plenty of other benches he could have chosen, so why next to me? Did he _want_ to sit next to me? Ugh, shut up Clary. Be cool.

Jace noticed that the girl was looking around. Probably looking for another place to sit. "Sorry for ruining your space, I could move if you want," Jace said with a small smirk.

"Oh," she seemed flustered. Jace noticed a little pink rise to her cheeks. It was kind of cute. "No. It's fine."

"Okay great. Believe it or not, this is my favorite place in the city. Nice and quiet." Just then some car on the street near them swerved and made a loud squeaky noise. She didn't say anything. "Well not that quiet." A peep of a smile. Jace then noticed just how green her eyes were. Like a meadow during spring, that stood out against her bright red hair.

Her phone rang and she quickly turned to pick it up. "Hello?" she answered. "No I am _not_ home yet Simon ... no it is _your_ fault, you're the one who wanted to go to get coffee _all_ the way over here. Whatever, I'll see you later tonight." She used many emphasized words.

"Boyfriend calling to check on you?" Jace smirked.

She blushed. "No!" she said quickly. "Just a friend, roommate actually."

"Ah."

A silence came over them. It was slightly awkward, since they were strangers. But Jace was never one to let awkwardness hang in the air, and being the outgoing and straight forward person he is, he talked to her more. "So what are you up to today?"

"Oh, I just came from getting coffee with my roommate," she replied.

"Well where is he then?" Jace questioned to keep the conversation going since she didn't ask him back.

"I don't even know. Apparently he had to take a detour somewhere." The girl threw up her hands exasperated. "What about you?"

He thought back on his day. "Well I woke up, had some coffee, got lunch with my sister, Izzy, and then had a shift at work - I'm a personal trainer at a gym. And now I'm here." She didn't respond, just nodded. Wow I had a really lame life right now. Maybe I could go to a club this weekend, Jace thought.

"So what do you do?" Jace asked, pretty good sentence starters right?

"I'm still in school and my mom really wants me to focus on my work, so she gives me money to live off of. Plus I have my roommate so that helps."

"Okay that's cool, so what do you _want_ to do?"

"Well I major in art and I really hope to open my own gallery some day and sell my work," she said proudly. "It's what my mom did." Jace could tell she was very passionate about it.

"Impressive. So I'm assuming your pretty good then right? Do you draw? Paint? Paper mache?"

She grinned, then a shy smile came across her face. "Yeah, I draw and paint and I hope I am."

"Can I see some of your drawings?"

She looked towards her bag on the floor and Jace could see the corner of a notebook poking out, but she looked hesitant. "I don't know. I don't usually share my drawings with anyone besides Simon... it's like my diary."

Jace flashed his ultra-charming smile. "But if you want to share your work with the world and become a famous artist someday then I think letting other people actually see your drawings is kind of essential. Besides what if your not even good," he gave her a playful look.

The redhead sighed. "I guess." She pulled her sketchbook our of her bag and handed it to me. Jace turned the cover to find an amazingly beautiful drawing of an island in the middle of the ocean with a bright full moon hanging low in the night sky. The detailed depiction of the water crashing against the rocky shore, the shading of the sky, everything about it was beautiful. He let out breath. "Wow this is really great." She muttered a humble thanks.

He turned more pages, a knight in his armor racing across a field on his horse. She noticed his curious glance. "Based on my ex-boyfriend," she said. "He was just so mysterious and dark, but he really helped me through some hard times."

"Are you still dating him?"

"No," she said sadly. "He moved to back France to be with his family."

"Oh, I'm sorry that sucks." She shrugged.

Jace turned the page again. An intricate hibiscus flower, a forest, a woman that looked like an older version of the girl sitting right next to him. Her mother probably.

A silence came over them after Jace had finished looking at the rest of the pages and told her again how amazing the drawings were. They were quiet again for a while.

"Hey -" Jace started but she also started talking at the same time. "Aren't you -" they both laughed. "You go first," Jace said.

"I was just going to say, aren't you cold? It like freezing out here," she emphasized by wrapping her arms around her shoulders and shivering even though she was wearing a jacket. Jace looked down at what he was wearing. A thin black dry-fit shirt for working out in and basketball shorts. Honestly he hadn't really thought about it. Sitting next to this girl, so close may he add, made him warm all over. Which reminded him, he didn't even know her name. Jace really needed to ask her.

"Not really," Jace shrugged. Then smirked, "I'm always hot." Her cheeks turned pink at this. Jace knew he was definitely good looking. He's had enough one-night-stands with girls from bars to know that. Especially in high school, everyone had practically worshipped him. Plus, he's had many girls try to flirt with him during his job. Sometimes he would flirt back, other times he would just disregard them.

"But seriously, I rarely get cold. I'm not really sure why. Growing up I didn't exactly live in a great home. We lived in an some old apartment in a very shady part of the city. It was always really cold at night and during the winter. So I guess I got used to it. My dad was an alcoholic and eventually left us. My mom got depressed and eventually killed herself." Jace swallowed. That had seriously taken a serious turn. Why did he just say all of that? He's never opened up to a girl besides Izzy before. Let alone some girl he met ten minutes ago. However, it was surprisingly easy to let go. But he'll probably will never see this girl again. So what's the harm?

The girl looked surprised. "I'm so sorry." She looked so sincere it hurt, she also had a very curious look in her eyes.

"That's alright," he shrugged. "I found my dad after she died, but he wanted nothing to do with me. So I was in the system for a while and eventually a family adopted me. I was actually friends with their children when I was a kid. They recently had a son who died so I guess they wanted to fill the whole." Jace put a small smile on his face to make it seem like it wasn't affecting him as much as he felt. "But it was okay. The Lightwoods were amazing, they really made me like part of their family." Except Jace didn't mention how often he thought about ending his own life, so he could see his mother again and ask why she left him all alone. Or how even when the Lightwoods adopted him, he was nothing but cruel to them for years. However, everything was in a good place now. Sure she still thought about his family often, but it didn't effect him like it had before.

She gave him a pointed look. "I asked if you were cold, not for your entire life story." Jace wasn't offended as he saw her playful face, but then her face became serious. "I understand though. My dad was not a very good man. He would hit my mother and scream at my brother and I. It was awful. One day, my mom woke Jonathan, my brother, and I up in the middle of the night and told us that we were leaving. We ended up living with my moms old friend, Luke. Everything got so much better and Luke and my mom got married. A few years later we heard that my dad had died in a car crash."

Jace thought about how screwed up life is. Nobody deserves to live a horrible life. At least our stories they turned out for the better. He always been so caught up in his miserable life, he never realized how bad someone sitting right next to him had it. Another silence washed over them. But instead of avoiding each other eyes, they were staring right at each other.

Jace then noticed that she was discreetly staring at his mouth. _Did she want to kiss me?_ "You know my eyes are up here." The deep moment was over and was back to playful.

If it was possible to blush anymore she did. "I was just looking at your tooth, what happened?"

Ah, Jace always seemed to forget about the little chip on his tooth. He leaned back in his seat. "Long story."

She looked at an inexistent watch on her arm. "I got time."

He had to say it before anything else. "I'm Jace by the way."

She opened her mouth to reply when I saw her quickly look towards the train that was about to leave. "Shit!" I guess she really didn't have time. The mystery girl frantically got up to leave. She was already starting to run towards the train. "I'm sorry I have to go, it was nice to meet you!"

Jace sat up in his seat. "Wait!"

And she was gone.

"Fuck," Jace whispered to himself. He never got her name. Not even her number! He was strangely smitten with this girl. Maybe it was her looks, maybe it was her personality or how she was so adorable it hurt. He quickly ran to the sign that said where each train was going. Train number 67 - departure 6:30 p.m. _Brooklyn_. She's somewhere in Brooklyn and I have to find her.

Looking -

The next morning after meeting the mysterious girl, Jace woke up bright and early to head over to Brooklyn. Jace definitely wasn't the type of guy to go chasing after some girl he barely knew. He was more of a one-night-stand type of guy. But something about her just pulled him right in. He shared his life with her, something he didn't even talk to his siblings about. And he was determined to find this girl. It shouldn't be that hard, he figured. No one could miss her hair in a crowd full of people. Once he arrived, he began leisurely walk through the streets. Carefully paying attention to everyone he passed by. Scanning, looking, searching. Eventually hunger took over and he noticed a small cafe called Java Jones across the street. Giving in, Jace pushed through the doors of the cafe. He ordered a coffee with extra sugar and a croissant. After eating his food, he decided to give up for the day.

The next day he didn't have any time to search for Red. Oh right. That's the name he decided to call her. Jace figured since it matched her hair and her personality. Pretty clever right?

On Friday, Jace decided to take the search a step further. Last night, as Jace was falling asleep, he couldn't get Red out of his head. He even came to think that perhaps what he was doing was pretty much stalking. Then dismissed the thought as this was different, he wasn't looking to harm her or anything. Quite the opposite actually. As he walked through Brooklyn once again he tapped a few peoples shoulders, asking if they know her. Sometimes asking young people that could be her friend. Or an older person, maybe an adult in her life? I would make sure to talk about her crazy red hair, green eyes and porcelain skin.

Every person went the same. Me calling after someone, "excuse me?" I was often met by glares and some people just kept walking anyway. "Do you happen to know a girl with ..." and they'd ask, "do you have a name?" And I'd say back, "Well no ..." and then they would glare one last time and walk away.

Sighing, Jace found that he was passing the little coffee shop he had gone to yesterday. The drink he had gotten the other day was pretty good so Jace decided to go in. A little bell rang as the door swung open. Jace wondered if he'll ever see Red again. As he was waiting in line he heard the barista yell out the name of a customer whose order was up. "Simon!"

Wait. He knew that name from somewhere. _"No I am_ not _home yet Simon ..."_ This could possibly be the roommate of my mystery girl! Then again Simon wasn't exactly a rare name, there could be plenty of people with that name around here. Jace turned to see an extremely nerdy looking boy grabbing his drink with an extremely dorky smile. He was wearing an old pair of jeans and t-shirt that said 'Made in Brooklyn'. He had curly brown hair and pair of glasses rested on his face.

"Fuck it," Jace whispered to himself and walked up to the nerdy guy leaving his place in line. "Hey, are you Simon?"

He seemed very surprised that I talked to him. "Uh, yes?" It sounded more like a question than answer.

Jace repeated his line. "Do you know a girl I've been looking for? She has red hair, really bright green eyes, pretty short?" Jace thought he saw smidge of recognition in his face, as if he was trying to hide that what he knew. "Possibly your roommate?"

Yes! Total recognition covered his face. Though his face showed suspicion. "How do you know Clary?"

 _Clary. Clary! CLARY!_ Jace finally had a name for his mystery girl that he somehow came to like. And it was a beautiful name, for a beautiful girl. Even though Jace had only met her once, he had an exact mental picture of what she looked like. "Yes, Clary!" He loved hearing the name roll off his tongue. "Do you know where I can find her? Or give me her number?"

"Woah woah woah. How do you know Clary?" It sounded perfect even when nerdy guy said it!

"We met a couple days ago at a train stop. We talked for a while but I never got her number or anything," Jace explained. Simon still looked skeptical. I guess I could understand. If a random dude came asking about Izzy, Jace would feel very protective of her.

Just then the little bell on the door rang. "Hey, Si! Did you order my -" She stopped short when Jace turned around.

"Jace?"

A grin broke out on his face. He sighed in relief. _"Clary."_

 **So this is just a little one shot, lots of cliché-ness. I could maybe possibly write another chapter if you guys want, but it will probably take a while for me to produce it. Please review and tell me what you think!**


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